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Indie singer-songwriter Ilene Angel has released her new duet, “Friends Like Me & You,” with internationally acclaimed soft-rock legend Kenny Loggins. The track is the flagship single from Angel’s upcoming LP record, “In Color,” due out in fall, 2015. It has been proudly published on the Grownup Records independent record label. Uplifting, patently heartfelt and positively shining with humanity, “Friends Like Me & You” is an endearing, no-frills instant classic from the top-shelf talents of Ilene Angel and Kenny Loggins.

New York’s Ilene Angel cites as favorite influences Carole King, Barbra Streisand, Billy Joel, James Taylor and Harry Chapin. Audiophiles will hear similarities to these in Angel’s songwriting, foremost in that her songs are not cluttered with extraneous verses, bridges or refrains, but rather have a distilled purity which exalts the character of each track. Her albums play out like a social event this way, with the listener meeting first one song and then another, each having its own mood, tone and theme, as well as Angel’s unassumingly impeccable singing style.

It is partially Ilene Angel’s pared-down manner of singing and songwriting which underscores this elegant, surprise performance of perennial rock favorite Kenny Loggins.

“When I first heard Kenny’s familiar, iconic voice coming through the studio speakers,” says Angel, “I squealed with delight and did a little happy dance … He did these luscious and intricate harmonies and vocal arrangements that are distinctly Kenny Loggins. It took my breath away.”

The track isn’t gaudy – piano, bass, drums and some strings, none of which intrude on the vocal interplay which is clearly the song’s beating heart – and at three minutes flat, it’s over by the time the listener is in love with it. ‘Play’ is pressed again.

There’s also a core goodness to “Friends Like Me & You” which belongs to the lyrics, themselves. This is a palpable, a-priori feeling of warmth which emanates from the words and the people singing them.

Of this Angel comments that she wrote the song, “with Anthony Barone and Tanya Leah, two of my most cherished friends, trying to capture what was so special about friendships like ours that spanned years and miles and the joys and sorrows that life brings with it.”

Kenny Loggins shares a kinship with the indie artist from the East Coast, too. Having become acquainted during a collaboration for the Huffington Post, the duo began trading songs over the Internet and in time found themselves bonded as writers, performers, artists and simply people.

“I told him about the album I was planning to make,” Angel says, “one that would extol the virtues of following our hearts, resurrecting our dreams, being grateful even for the challenges, and knowing that our lives, in fact, do matter. The idea of putting songs with these messages out into the world must have resonated with him, because he offered to sing something on it.”

Truly, there’s something about “Friends Like Me & You” that elucidates Loggins’ musical personality in a way perhaps none of his repertoire has to date. He joins Angel with a natural, carefree earnestness in his tenor which reaches the ear like an outstretched hand, a hand offered in happy greeting and maybe to lift the listener up.

“I honestly don’t know of any artist of his caliber who would have the generosity of spirit to contribute the amount of time, energy, and immense talent that he did to an indie project,” says Ilene Angel. “I think that speaks to who he is as a person, besides being a rock star and all that.”

Ilene Angel herself is a multifaceted artist who has performed at venues ranging from nightclubs to television shows, and who has appeared both onstage at Carnegie Hall and at the top of Billboard’s music charts. She penned her first pop song at the age of nine, long before she would graduate from Northwestern U. and go on to New York’s famous Juilliard music conservatory.

A regularly contributing writer for Huffington Post, she is also a published author of memoirs, a featured writer in showcases presented by the National Academy of Popular Music, and winner of the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame’s prestigious Abe Olman Award for her song, “Silence Where Love Used to Be.”

Ilene Angel is the co-author of No.1 Radio Disney single, “I Don’t Think About It,” recorded by Emily Osment of Disney’s popular Hannah Montana program, as well as “We All Fall Down,” the songwriting competition winner for the Global Voices for Change organization.

The feature duet from Ilene Angel and Kenny Loggins, “Friends Like Me & You,” is available online worldwide beginning 17 August 2015. Her new LP record album on which it appears, “In Color,” arrives at online music stores fall of 2015. It is available for pre-order from her official website now (link provided below). The “In Color” LP by Ilene Angel was produced by Tanya Leah.

Fans of great songwriting, sincere vocal performances, and the preciousness of friendship should get in early. Very early.

“Love is the miracle,” Ilene Angel says. “And we are the miracle workers.”

About BothEyesShut

BothEyesShut is your friendly autodidact, at your service to amuse, enthuse, and offend you with a fresh, steady flow of original disinformation. He was born in Huntington Beach, CA and is currently writing his fifth novel. "In a Real World, This Would Be Happening" is his first return to non-fiction since his monthly column in Going Coastal magazine in 2001. He lives in Long Beach.